Pediatnc Exercise Science, 1993, 5, 224-233

0 1993 Human Kinetics Publishers, Inc.

Motivation for Participation in Physical Activity:
A Comparison of Parent-Child Perceived
Competencies and Participation Motives
Penny McCullagh, Karen T. Matzkanin,
Susan D. Shaw, and Marcela Maldonado
An important issue facing sport psychology researchers as well as prac-
titioners is understanding the motives of children involved in youth sport
programs. The present study extended previous work in this area by examin-
ing parental perceptions of their children's motivations and perceived compe-
tencies in addition to the typically assessed variables of youth-reported
motives and perceived competencies. Eighty-one children and one of their
parents from a youth soccer league served as subjects for this study. Results
indicated that children and parents alike ranked intrinsic motives such as
feelin3 good and having fun as primary reasons for participation. In addition,
both parents and children rated external reasons as the lowest priorities for
participation. Multivariate analyses of variance indicated that children rated
all the motive subscales more positively than their parents. No significant
relationships were found between perceived competencies and motives.
Within the last 10 years researchers in sport psychology have become
increasingly interested in motivational issues related to youth sport (see 32 for
a review). Research studies have focused on a wide range of topics including
coaching behaviors (30), participation motives (10, 19), sources of enjoyment,
anxiety, and stress (4, 21, 26, 27, 28), and reasons for quitting sport (5). Under-
standing these behaviors is essential for sport psychologists and can have im-
portant implications for practitioners in youth sport programs.
The earliest studies examining participation motives in youth sport were
very descriptive in nature. In general, youth sport participants were asked to
assess their motivation on a multi-item inventory with the responses subsequently
reduced to a smaller number of categories. As early as 1981 Passer (23) catego-
rized motives into the categories of skill development, affiliation, excitement/
challenge, success/status, fitness, and release of energy. Subsequent examination
of motives across a wide range of sport participants and activities has generally
Penny McCullagh is with the Department of Kinesiology at the University of
Colorado, Boulder, CO 80309. Karen Matzkanin, Susan Shaw, and Marcela Maldonado
were students at the time of this study.
Motivation for Physical Activity - 225
acknowledged the existence of these motives as well as some additional ones
including competitive motives and fun (10, 12, 31).
Although these early studies provided some valuable information on why
children might participate in sport, Gould (1 1, 13) suggested the need for more
theoretical research in the area if a comprehensive understanding of youth sport
participation and withdrawal is to be achieved. He suggested that three current
theoretical frameworks could serve as promising bases from which to examine
motivation (13). The first approach was Smith's (29) cognitive-affective model
of stress. This approach, originally designed to address sport burnout, suggests
that if there is an imbalance between the perceived demands of the situation and
the perceived resources available to the individual, stress occurs which could
lead to withdrawal. On the other hand, if individuals perceive they have sufficient
resources to meet the demands of the situation and their motives are being
fulfilled, then participation motivation may be enhanced. Although this approach
may be viable for examining motivational issues in youth sport, thus far it has
not been empirically tested and published in the participationmotivation literature.
A second theoretical approach discussed by Gould and Petlichkoff (13)
was the achievement motivation approach of Maehr and Nicholls (20). According
to this theory, individuals are primarily motivated by their goal orientations.
Later modifications of the theory by Nicholls (22) suggested that individuals are
primarily motivated by either task involvement or ego involvement. A task
oriented individual is primarily motivated to master the skill, and perceptions of
competence are gained through comparisons to his or her previous performance.
Ego involved individuals, on the other hand, gain perceptions of competence
through social comparison with other individuals. Although the achievement goal
approach has a great deal of intuitive appeal and has received theoretical attention
in the sport literature (6,7,25), limited empirical work has been conducted using
this perspective to examine participation motives in youth sport (e.g., 8,24), and
only recently have sport-specific measures of achievement goal orientations been
developed (see 7).
The theoretical approach that has received the most empirical attention in
the literature on sport participation motivation (e.g., 9, 19) is based on Harter's
competence motivation theory (14, 15). Within this framework, an individual's
desire to demonstrate competence through mastery experiences is the basis for
intrinsic motivation. If independent attempts at mastery experiences are success-
ful, children's internal sense of control and perceived competence are bolstered
as well as their positive affect. These increases in turn lead to continued motivation
and participation. Conversely, extrinsically motivated individuals are hypothe-
sized to avoid mastery attempts since these will lead to anxiety and low perceived
competence, thus resulting in low motivation to continue participation.
An example of sport motivation research based on Harter's theory was
provided by Klint and Weiss (19), who argued that many descriptive studies had
examined motives and perceived comp6tencies but had not adequately examined
the relationship between these consmcts. Their primary hypothesis was, "percep-
tions of competence are intimately tied to participant motives"' (p. 57). To
examme this prediction, >Klint and Weiss vsed a modified version -of the Gill et
al. (10) motivation inventory as well as khe ph~i c a l , sodd, and cognitive snb-
scdes of Harter's perceivedcompetemx *inventory with jrmfth gymnastics pa~tici-
gants. Using Passer's -(23) dassification of participant motives, they mpporEed
226 - McCullagh, Matzkanin, Shaw, and Maldonado
their hypothesis that children high in perceived physical competence rated skill
development as more important than children who were low in perceived physical
competence, whereas children high in perceived social competence were more
motivated by affiliation and excitement than those who were low in social compe-
tence. Thus these findings support some of the tenets within competence motiva-
tion theory and suggest that, indeed, perceived competencies are linked to motives.
Harter also places a great deal of emphasis on the role of significant others
in the socialization process, although this aspect of the model has only received
modest attention in the sport psychology literature in terms of coaching influences
(1, 18). This void in examining the important role of socialization agents in
influencing children's sport participation has been noted in recent reviews by
both Weiss (32, 33) and Brustad (3). Unfortunately, few studies have examined
both parental and youth perceptions.
Burton and Martens ( 5) addres'sed this issue when they examined percep-
tions of participants and dropouts in youth wrestling. Interestingly, they found
that as long as children were still participating in wrestling, they and their parents
had similar perceptions as to why other children might quit the sport. Once
children actually dropped out, however, they and their parents had quite different
perceptions of the reasons for dropping out. The dropouts said they found other
things to do and that wrestling was no longer fun, whereas the parents perceived
that their children had no motivation and just didn't care about the activity
anymore. This research could be extended to examine the relationship between
parent and child motives for participation, and to question the link between
motives and perceived competencies.
We attempted to extend previous work in the area of participation motives
as well as examine some of the previously identified missing links in youth
sport research ( 3, 33). In replication of previous work (19), we assessed youth
participation motives and perceived competencies. In addition we assessed par-
ents' perceptions of motives and competencies. In line with previous research (1 9) ,
it was predicted that high perceived athletic competence would relate strongly to
skill development motives whereas high perceived social competence would be
related to affiliation needs. Finally, it was of explanatory interest to examine the
relationship between the perceptions held by parents versus those held by the
child concerning the latter's motives, and the perceptions held by parents of their
child's perceived competencies.
Method
Subjects
The subjects, 81 youths between the ages of 7 and 14 (M=10.8, SD=1.7), consisted
of 22 females and 59 males. Subjects were recruited from a recreational soccer
league in a city of approximately 80,000 inhabitants and consisted primarily of
Caucasian middle- to upper middle-class children. This recreational league dif-
fered from the competitive leagues in the area in the following characteristics:
there were fewer practices per week, there was no season-end play, and the teams
did not travel out of town for games. Parents signed informed consents and
children were read an assent and then signed a consent agreement. Research
assistants helped the younger children complete the questionnaires. Children were
Motivation for Physical Activity - 227
assured that parents and coaches would not be shown their answers. One parent
of each youth also completed a survey (39 mothers, 42 fathers).
Measures
Participation Motivation. A modified 27-item version of the Gill et al.
(10) and Klint and Weiss (19) instrument was used to assess motives for participa-
tion. The words "I like" or "I want" were deleted from the beginning of each
item in order to make the items less cumbersome for the children to read. The
items were ranked on a 5-point scale ranging from 1 (not at all important) to 5
(very important). Parents were also asked to complete the same inventory and
to consider why they thought their child participated.
Perceived Competence. Harter's (16, 17) perceived competence inven-
tory was used to assess perceived competence. The domains of social and athletic
competence were assessed, each containing six items in a 4-point alternative
structure format. This format consists of questions structured so that the participant
first chooses one of two listed characteristics that is most descriptive of him or
her, then decides whether that characteristic is "really like" or "sort of like"
him or her. It should be noted that the athletic domain assessed here corresponds
to the physical domain assessed by Klint and Weiss (19). Parents completed an
abbreviated six-item form of this inventory that asked them to assess their chil-
dren's competencies in the social and athletic subdomains.
Procedure
The executive board of the Youth Soccer League gave permission to collect data,
and coaches were informed that the study was being conducted. Most of the
children were approached at practices or after games and were asked to help in
the study by completing the surveys. Only children who had at least one parent
in attendance participated, which facilitated the signing of parental consents.
Instructions for each questionnaire were administered, and younger children who
had difficulty reading the inventories were assisted by research assistants. Parents
were also given verbal instructions before completing the inventories. Parents
and their children did not interact while completing the inventories.
Results
Descriptive Information
Table 1 shows the motive rankings that childfen and parents gave to each of the
27 items. Parents and children rated the same three items as the most important
motives. These motives were very intrinsic and related to having fun and feeling
good. The bottom six reasons for both groups were clearly extrinsic and related
to social comparison with others, uniforms, equipment, and extrinsic rewards.
Clearly the children perceived-as did their parents-that they were more moti-
vated by internal than by external factors. Based on Passer's (23) findings as
well as those of Klint and Weiss (19), motives were classified into seven oatego-
ries: skill/mastery, ego/competitiveness, fitness, team factors, funlexcitement,
recognition, and affiliation. The individual motives were grouped into categories
so they could be used in subsequent analyses. To determine whether the subscales
228 - McCullagh, Matzkanin, Shaw, and Maldonado
Table 1
Motives Reported by Children and Parents for Soccer Participation
Motive
Children Parent
Mean Rank Mean Rank
To have fun
Feel good when I have played well
To have a good time
The challenge
To get exercise
To learn new skills
Being on a team
To stay in shape
To improve skills
To do something I am good at
To be with friends
To be physically fit
The team spirit
The excitement
Thecoaches
The action
To feel important
To meet new friends
To compete
To gain recognition
To compete against others
To please others important to me
To test my ability against others
The equipment
The uniforms
To win against others
The ribbons and trophies
Note. Standard deviations ranged from .56 to 1.3.
were internally consistent, Cronbach's alpha reliability was calculated for each
subscale and these are reported for both children and parents in Table 2. An
alpha reliability coefficient of .5 was considered sufficient for subsequent analysis.
Correlational Analyses
The relationship of parent and child's perceived social competencies (e.46) and
the relationship of parent and child's perceived athletic competencies (r=.52)
were moderate and significant, p<.Wl. Thus, children's self-percephs and
parents' perceptions of their 6hild's competencies were sigmficantly related.
However, the relationship of children" s ~erceived competencies and their motives
were low anxi nonsignificant (r=.001 t o .26), as were the correlations beween
Motivation for Physical Activity - 229
Table 2
Motive Subscales and Alpha Reliability Coefficients
Youth Parent
Subscale Rank M SD a M SO a Rank
Fitness
To stay in shape
To be physically fit
To get exercise
Skilltmastery
To improve skills
To learn new skills
Feel good when I have played well
To do something I'm good at
To compete
The challenge
Funtexcitement
To have fun
To have a good time
The team spirit
The excitement
The action
Affiliation
To be with friends
To meet new friends
Recognition
To gain recognition
To please others important to me
To feel important
Team factors
The coaches
The uniforms
The equipment
The ribbons and tropies
Being on a team
Ego/competitiveness
To win against others
To test my ability against others
To compete against others
parents' perceptions of athletic and social competencies and their children's
motives (r=.OO to -14). Furthermore, the correlations between children's motives
and parents' perceptions of children's motives were nonsignificant and low (r=
.00 to .27). Thus, except for perceived competencies, it appears as though children
and parents have different perceptions of motives, and neither the perceived
competencies of children nor those of parents are related to motives.
230 - McCullagh, Matzkanin, Shaw, and Maldonado
Parent-Child Comparisons
Although the simple correlations reported above provided some insight into the
relationship of parent and child perceptions, it was of interest to directly compare
the values reported by children and their parents across motive subscales. Means
and rankings for both children and parents are displayed in Table.2. As can be
seen, the children ranked skill mastery, fun, and fitness as most important while
parents rated fun, mastery, and affiliation as most important. A multivariate
analysis of variance (MANOVA) was conducted comparing the children and
parents across the seven motive subscales. A significant group effect was found,
Wilks' lambda = .63, F(7, 144) = 11.72, p<.001. Follow-up univariate tests
produced significant differences on all of the motive subscales, and examination
of the mean scores indicated that children rated all domains as more important
than their parents. A MANOVA comparing parents and children on perceived
social and athletic competencies produced no significant differences, Wilks'
lambda = .99, F(2, 151) = .71, p>.05, suggesting that children and their parents
had similar perceptions of the child's competencies.
Relationship of Perceived Competence and Motives
To determine whether there was a relationship between children's perceived
competencies (athletic and social) and motives, as well as between parent percep-
tions of perceived competencies and motives, canonical correlations were calcu-
lated. No significant differences were found.
Discussion
The findings of the present study are in line with findings from previous research
examining motives in youth sport. Children in the present study participated in
a relatively low-key league in a team-sport environment and had motivations
similar to those previously reported by individual-sport athletes (12, 19) as well
as by team-sport athletes (31). In general, intrinsic motives for participation such
as playing well and having fun were ranked extremely high by youth (M = 4.5
and higher on a 5-point scale), whereas extrinsic factors such as ribbons, trophies,
and winning against others were ranked as not very important (Mc3.5). Interest-
ingly, when parents were asked why they thought their children participated,
they chose motives similar to those chosen by their children. Intrinsic motives
were ranked as very important (M = 4.2 and higher on a 5-point scale) while
extrinsic motives were ranked as not very important. These findings provide
hope, since they suggest an intrinsic motivational focus for both children and
their parents that should lead to greater long-term motivation (15). Also in support
of previous research (2) was the finding that children have multiple and varied
motives for participation in sport.
Interestingly, the fitness factor attained the highest internal consistency for
children and was ranked by them as a very important factor (tied for first place).
Brodkin and Weiss (2), in examining their own and previous research on participa-
tion motives, found fitness to be an important factor across a wide range of sport
participants and suggested that social desirability to respond according to adult
expectations may be playing a role in these children's positive responses. Such
an explanation may hold true for the present data as well, since the community
Motivation for Physical Activity - 231
from which these subjects were drawn is well known for its high level of physical
activity participation across all age groups. In fact, the demographic information
provided by parents suggests that 75% of the parents themselves participate in
physical activity on a weekly or daily basis.
Since the league in which the children participated was a recreational league
with little emphasis on external rewards, it is not surprising that children ranked
external factors (ego, team, recognition) as least important. An interesting exten-
sion of the current research would be to assess recreational sport participants and
children in a more competitive league, or perhaps follow children longitudinally as
they make the transition from one league to another. The achievement motivation
approach (7,22) could perhaps provide a viable theoretical framework from which
to examine these issues by assessing parental, coach, and program motivation in
addition to athlete's motivations. It may well be that if a child's goal orientation
does not correspond to either coach, program, or parental goals, the resulting
disparity may lead to decreased motivation. For example, if a child has grown
accustomed to a recreational or mastery oriented program but is selected to play
in a more highly competitive program that emphasizes social comparison, it may
be difficult for the child to adapt psychologically. To clearly examine this issue,
it would be necessary to follow children longitudinally as they make this transition.
Such an approach might prove useful in examining the sport withdrawal issues
and suggests the need to examine the social structure of the activity in addition
to personal motivations (3, 33).
The lack of a relationship between (a) perceived social and athletic compe-
tencies and (b) motives was disappointing, considering the stated research hypoth-
esis based on past research and theory (14, 19). The lack of a demonstrated
relationship could be due to a number of factors. The number of subjects in the
present study was relatively small (8 1 children, 8 1 parents) and children ranged
from 7 to 14 years of age. As previously demonstrated by Brodkin and Weiss
(2), the motive structures may have a developmental basis that varies across age
groups, and the variability caused by this factor may have weakened the results.
Also, the two primary motive factors to be examined theoretically (affiliation
and skill/mastery) had the lowest internal consistency of all subscales, and this
may have detracted from the power of the multivariate tests employed. Although
the singular motives were examined within various subscales in an attempt to
increase the alpha reliabilities, a large sample would have allowed for a factor
analysis to be conducted.
In conclusion, the procedures employed in the present study suggest differ-
ences in the reasons for motivation stated by children and their parents. Across
all motive subscales, children rated the motives as more important than their
parents. In general, the pattern of motive importance as indicated by rankings
(Table 2) suggests that fitness, skill mastery, affiliation, and fun are very important
aspects of participation for both children and their parents. Future research should
examine both parents and coaches as important socializing agents in youth sport
programs (3, 32, 33).
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Author Notes
This project was partially supported by funds from the Undergraduate Research
Opportunity Program (UROP) awarded to the third and fourth authors under the direction
of the first author. Karen Matzkanin was a graduate student at the time of this study. An
earlier version of this paper was presented at the Association for the Advancement of
Applied Sport Psychology, Seattle, 1990.
The authors would like to thank Maureen Weiss for her helpful comments on an
earlier draft of this paper.